Impact of Road Transport Constraints on Farming Households Food Security in Kwande LGA Benue State

Abstract

Road transport problems constitute a threat to sustainable food production by farmers and their food security. This is because road transport challenges hinder supply of products to market and moving farm inputs to farms, which in turn affects farming households' annual income and their sustainable food security. Thus, this study investigated the effects of road transport problems on the farm households' food security in Kwande Local Government Area in Benue State. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 200 farming household heads from ten farm communities used for the study.  The data were obtained using a structured questionnaire which was designed to provide answers related to the specific objectives of the study and distributed to the farming households chosen.  Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, food security index and Multiple linear regression model (MLRM). The results revealed that many means of transport were found to be used by farming households especially truck, pick-up and motorcycle. The analysis of food security revealed that 55.5% of the farming households were food insecure  Regression results revealed that independent variables in the study had negative significant influence on farm households' food security statuses (p < 0.05).  Additionally, the results revealed that dismal conditions of roads, high costs of transport, poor road accessibility, inadequate transport infrastructure, inadequate transport services, fluctuation of fuel prices, poor vehicle conditions, and road robbery/banditry have significantly negative effects on farm households food security with their p-values less than 0.05. Therefore, the study suggested that poor or bad roads in the study area that lead to farms and connect markets in both rural and urban areas should be repaired to ensure good accessibility and the safe mobility of farm outputs to markets and farm inputs to farms to enhance agricultural produce and marketing. Enough security personnel should be deployed by governments on roads especially on market days to discourage food theft and banditry in the study area.